Oil Industry Advises Obama: Stay Hooked On Oil

January 27, 2010 10:19 am ET

On January 26, 2010, the American Petroleum Institute released a statement concerning the President's upcoming State of the Union address. In the statement, the oil industry's top lobbyist smeared clean energy legislation and urged an increased reliance on oil and gas. Since 2008, the oil and gas industry has spent over $250 million to lobby against modernizing America's energy portfolio. In contrast to the oil industry's false talking points, increasing our investment in clean energy technology would create 1.9 million American jobs and boost household income by nearly $1,200 per year!

Oil Industry Advises President Obama On
State Of The Union Address

American Petroleum
Institute:

We welcome the President's move to job creation and
the economy and extend our hand to work together toward this worthy goal.

We also hope the President takes the opportunity to
recognize the potential of energy development to create more jobs. Not
only jobs from producing more so-called green energy. But also jobs
from producing more American oil and natural gas. The American oil and
natural gas industry clearly has a role to play in putting Americans back to
work. The U.S.
oil and natural gas industry already supports more than 9 million American jobs
and can create many more.

[...]

A key talking point for this Administration and
Congress is lessening our dependence on imported energy. Yet the very policies
it is pursuing will actually make our nation more, not less, dependent on
imported energy. Some of the policies advanced recently seem aimed at stifling
the job creation potential of domestic oil and natural gas development. Tax
proposals in the budget are anti-jobs, anti-consumer and anti-energy.
Other initiatives would adversely affect leasing and development on federal
lands and U.S.
waters and drive up the costs of doing business.

In his State of the Union address, the President
will correctly focus on what it can do to lessen the burden on America's
working class. Surely part of that plan should include increasing, not
decreasing, supplies of affordable and reliable domestic oil and natural gas.
[API Statement, 1/26/10;
emphasis original]

Since 2008, The Oil & Gas Industry
Has Spent Over A Quarter Of A Billion Dollars Lobbying For The Status Quo

The oil and gas industry has spent millions lobbying in favor of the
status quo:

The Oil & Gas
Industry Spent Over $250 Million On Lobbying Since 2008. According to the
Center for Responsive Politics, the oil and gas industry spent $252,778,376 on
lobbying in 2008 and 2009. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 1/27/10]

Addicted to foreign oil, the U.S. sends hundreds of billions of
dollars to "dangerous" or "unstable" countries:

Hooked On Their Oil, The U.S. Paid "Dangerous Or Unstable"
Countries $150 Billion In 2008. According to the Center for American
Progress, "In 2008 the United
States imported oil from 10 countries
currently on the State Department's Travel Warning List, which lists countries
that have 'long-term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or
unstable.' These nations include Algeria,
Chad, Colombia, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Iraq,
Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Our
reliance on oil from these countries could have serious implications for our
national security, economy, and environment... The United States imported 4 million
barrels of oil a day-or 1.5 billion barrels total- from 'dangerous or unstable'
countries in 2008 at a cost of about $150 billion. This estimate excludes Venezuela,
which is not on the State Department's 'dangerous or unstable' list but has
maintained a distinctly anti-American foreign and energy policy. Venezuela is one of the top five oil exporters
to the United States,
and we imported 435 million barrels of oil from them in 2008." [Center for
American Progress, Oil Dependence Is A
Dangerous Habit, January
2010]

Clean Energy Creates FOUR TIMES As Many
Jobs As Oil & Gas

Investment In Clean
Energy Technology Creates FOUR TIMES As Many Jobs As An Investment In Oil &
Gas. According to the Center for
American Progress, "spending $1 million on energy efficiency and renewable
energy produces a much larger expansion of employment than spending the same
amount on fossil fuels or nuclear energy. Among fossil fuels, job creation in
coal is about 32 percent greater than that for oil and natural gas. The
employment creation for energy efficiency-retrofitting and mass transit-is 2.5
times to four times larger than that for oil and natural gas. With renewable
energy, the job creation ranges between 2.5 times to three times more than that
for oil and gas." [Center for American Progress, The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy, 6/17/09]

Clean Energy Would Boost The U.S.
Economy...

Clean Energy
Legislation Would Boost GDP By Up To $111 Billion. According to the University of California-Berkeley:
"Comprehensive clean energy and climate protection legislation, like the
American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) that was passed by the House of
Representatives in June, would strengthen the U.S. economy by establishing
pollution limits and incentives that together will drive large-scale
investments in clean energy and energy efficiency...New analysis by the
University of California shows conclusively that climate policy will strengthen
the U.S. economy as a whole. Full adoption of the ACES package of pollution
reduction and energy efficiency measures would ... boost GDP by $39 billion-$111
billion. These economic gains are over and above the growth the U.S.
would see in the absence of such a bill." [UC Berkeley, accessed 1/22/10]

Clean Energy Legislation Would Boost
Household Income By Nearly $1,200 Per Year. According to the University of
California-Berkeley: "Full adoption of the ACES package of pollution reduction
and energy efficiency measures would create between 918,000 and 1.9 million new
jobs, increase annual household income by $487-$1,175 per year... These economic
gains are over and above the growth the U.S. would see in the absence of
such a bill." [UC Berkeley, accessed 1/22/10]

... And Create Millions Of American Jobs

Investment
In Clean Energy Technology Would
Create Up To 1.9 Million American Jobs. According
to the University of California-Berkeley, "new analysis by the University of California
shows conclusively that climate policy will strengthen the U.S. economy as a whole. Full
adoption of the ACES package of pollution reduction and energy efficiency
measures would create between 918,000 and 1.9 million new jobs." [UC Berkeley,
accessed 1/22/10]

Every Single State
Will Gain Jobs From An Investment In Clean Energy Technologies. According to the Center for American
Progress, investments in clean energy projects would create 1.7 million
American jobs in every state in the country. [Center for American Progress, The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy,
6/17/09]

Investment In
Renewable Energy Has Already Salvaged Many Manufacturing Facilities Closed
During Economic Downturn. Across America,
factories and plants abandoned by the old economy have been re-tooled and
re-opened to satisfy the growing demand for new energy technologies. For
instance, once hopeless manufacturing plants in Pennsylvania,
Iowa, and Michigan have re-energized their communities
by creating jobs and leading the charge toward a new energy future. [Bloomberg,
4/2/09;
Star Tribune, 4/22/09; Grand Rapids Press, 3/6/08]